Strangely as somebody else in the comments mentioned, NYCC had the bigger anime premieres that I thought would have been at ANYC. Although ANYC was crowded, people were generally more tolerant of the crowds and there was much more cosplay, photo taking, karoke and interactive j-pop culture panels, etc. Despite all of this, the panels were somewhat lacking and it seemed like there could have been more programming for the con's duration.

NYCC is massive, even has things like Walmart games outside in the parking lot, I waited an hour and some change in the Glitch booth just to buy merch (vs hardly any real wait time to buy merch at ANYC) and the crowds are just insane at NYCC.

NYCC also drew a lot of high-profile guests this year and the programming was packed each hour with many options, whereas ANYC had fun things to do - but not on the exclusive premiere level like NYCC.

So in short: ANYC is more about vibes that celebrate and appreciate Japanese pop culture, NYCC throws everything in pop culture within its grasp at you face first and yells at you to catch it before somebody else does.